


Backstory

by Silvermags



Series: Comfortember 2020 [7]
Category: Incredibles (Pixar Movies)
Genre: Comfortember, Confessions, Gen, Growing up with superpowers, No Romance, before superheroes were a thing, making that clear now, probably wasn't fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27472525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvermags/pseuds/Silvermags
Summary: During their conversation at the party, Helen ends up admitting quite a bit about how she grew up to an interested Evelyn.
Series: Comfortember 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995271
Kudos: 12
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	Backstory

“I could discover the origins of the universe and he’d find a way to market it as a… foot massager!” Evelyn explained, and both she and Elastigirl laughed.

“It’s a really great thing you and your brother are doing,” Elastigirl said, sitting back in her chair, “I don’t think there are words to describe how grateful I am to you.”

“The world needs superheroes,” Evelyn took a sip of her drink, “What’re you gonna do?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Elastigirl sighed.

“So what did you mean?” Evelyn asked, careful to keep her face blank.

“I… shouldn’t be telling you this,” Elastigirl hesitated, “Scratch that, I definitely shouldn’t be telling you this.”

“It’s okay,” Evelyn smiled, “You can trust me.”

Elastigirl slumped back with a sigh, “I wasn’t allowed to play outside until I was nine,” she admitted softly, “And my mother homeschooled me until I was fifteen.”

“Why’s that?” Evelyn asked curiously.

“Oh, why do you think?” Elastigirl said wryly, stretching her arm across the room briefly, “My powers came in before I could even walk, and back then, people with powers were pariahs. Feared, hated… Didn’t matter how old you were, what you had or hadn’t done, if you had powers you were a monster, subhuman. And there were rumors about what the military or organized crime might do to get ahold of kids like me, and what they did to the kids they got. Dad walked out, couldn’t take the stress of having a super for a daughter, although that’s not what they called us back then, and Mom was left alone to protect me as well as she could. And that took its toll on both of us. I don’t like thinking about what my life would’ve been like if something hadn’t changed.”

“So what did change?” Evelyn prompted, leaning forward.

“What else?” Elastigirl snorted, “Superheroes started to be a thing. The first one debuted when I was seven, and within a year public opinion on supers went from unnatural monsters to potential saviors. Mom still didn’t let me play within other kids until she was sure I could keep my powers under control, but all of a sudden she didn’t have to worry about me getting burned at the stake if I lost control because I got too excited.”

“Wow,” Evelyn said, sitting back with her drink, “That must’ve been pretty life changing.”

“You have no idea,” Elastigirl half laughed, half sighed, “I got to go to school, I got to have a future, and even more importantly, I knew I wasn’t alone in the world, there were other people like me who were not just living but thriving, going out and making a real difference in the world. Until then, none of those had ever been possibilities for me. It wasn’t just life changing, it was life saving.”

Evelyn had no idea how to respond to that, so she settled for taking another sip of her drink.

“Mom died pretty young,” Elastigirl said sadly, “All the stress taking its toll on her. But she got to see me graduate high school, meet Bob, start college… and when I was a kid she never thought I’d get to have any of those things.”

“What’d you major in?” Evelyn asked, eager to bring the conversation back around to something she was comfortable with.

“I didn’t,” Elastigirl said ruefully, “I had to drop out Junior year when Bomb Voyage managed to find Bob and I and blew up our house. Between having to switch identities again and having to deal with a one year old that could turn invisible… well. The only reason Bob has his degree is because he’s pathologically incapable of giving up. Well, and he’s actually a genius with math.”

“Wouldn’t think it to look at him,” Evelyn murmured, then winced.

“Oh he knows,” Elastigirl wasn’t offended, thank goodness, “And him refusing to give up on anything has caused its fair share of problems for us and our family, but it’s part of what I love about him.

“What do you think your mom would’ve thought about us trying to get the anti-super laws repealed?” Evelyn asked in slightly morbid curiosity.

“She’d probably break down in tears,” Elastigirl said, “When I was a kid I didn’t get it, but then they passed the first of those laws right less than a month after Violet was born. Bob and I had been so excited to have kids, but when those laws passed,” Elastigirl put her head in her hands, “I almost wished we hadn’t, because I looked at my beautiful baby girl and all I could see was another lifetime in hiding. Like mine.”

“That must’ve been hard,” Evelyn said neutrally.

“Oh you don’t know the half of it,” Elastigirl agreed, sitting back up, “It wasn’t quite as bad as when I was growing up. Bob and I had more support than my mother did, from Agent Dicker and from each other, and we had powers ourselves, so if anyone came after our kids we’d be able to fight the way my mother really couldn’t, but it was still terrifying. Especially since attitudes towards supers have been getting progressively worse. I’d even started to hear rumors about super kids being kidnapped again.”

“I… hadn’t heard that,” Evelyn admitted.

“That’s why what you and your brother is doing is so important,” Elastigirl told her, “Once supers are legal again, we’ll be able to fight back, to protect those kids, protect my kids. It’s the most peace of mind I’ve had since the super ban was passed in the first place. I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever been happier.”

“It’s really nothing,” Evelyn shrugged.

“You don’t get it,” Elastigirl groaned, “I grew up in hiding. Bob grew up in hiding. Violet and Dash grew up in hiding. But thanks to you, Jack-Jack won’t. My grandchildren won’t. Those kids in there, when they start to have kids of their own, they won’t. You can’t possibly understand what that means to me.”

“Maybe not,” Evelyn shrugged, by now eager to change the subject, “So how did that play into you wanting to be a hero?”

“Simple really,” Elastigirl huffed a laugh, “I wanted to make it so no other little girl like me had to grow up in a basement because she had powers and people were afraid of her. My husband will talk all the livelong day about protecting the innocent, and that’s part of it, but when I think about who I’m doing this for, I think of that little girl, of my little girl.”

“Huh.” Evelyn wasn’t sure what her face was doing, but it was probably interesting.

“Wait, what’s that?” Elastigirl turned back to the computer, “The Screenslaver had the feed from my suitcam?”

**Author's Note:**

> How would this affect Evelyn's plans and the plot of the movie? I honestly have no idea, Evelyn could swing pretty much any direction here.


End file.
